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G. L. SQU IER. Evaporating Pah.

.Patentd April 16. 1867.

NJETEHS. PH GRAEHER. WISHINGTON D C ginitw glans Meat ffirr.

GEORGE. L. SQ UIER, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent No. 63,957, (Zatecl April 16, 1867.

IMPROVED EVAPORATOR FOR SAGGHARINE JUIGES.

TO ALL'WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. SQUIER, ot' the city of Buffalo, county of Erie, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and improved Evaporator for Saccharine Juices; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure I is a side elcvationof my improved evaporator. I

Figure II is a plan View.

Figure III is a section on line a b, fig. 1.

' Figure IV is a section on line 0 cl, fig. 1.

Letters of like name and'kind refer to like parts in each of the figures.

A represents the fire box or furnace constructed of metal, upon andin which the evaporating pans are supported, the flame or heat of the fire being allowed to COHIO. in contact with the bottoms of the evaporating pans. This firebox or furnace has a door, A, grate a and smoke-stack a arranged in a common manner, and is supported upon the folding legs 13, and braces I), or in any other convenient or desirable manner. In case the apparatus is required on a large scale, the evaporating pans may be placed in a brick or stone arch. I use three pansi'or the three successive stages of the process, to wit, first, a defe'cating pan; second, an. evaporating pan; and third, a finishing pan. The defecating pan G is located at the back part of the fire-box, near the smoke-stack, and occupies a space of about one-fourth the whole evaporating surface. This pan is made shallow because there is less liabilityof the liquid boiling over in this stage of the process, and because the skimming may be more easily accomplished in a shallow pan; and the bottom is made thin because there is less liability of scorching the liquid in this part of the process. This pan may be made of sheet metal or of thin cast iron, and is less expensive than either of the other two pans, and is more quickly and easily afi'ected by the fire. The second (or evaporating pan) 0, occupiesthe front half of the fire-boxer furnace, and has an evaporating surface about equal to the other two pans. It is made of cast iron, with a bottom considerably thicker than that of the first pan, so as not to be so easily or quickly afi'ected by sudden changes in the intensity of the fire, which changes'would otherwise be liable to burn or scorch the sirnp. This pan is placed lower in the furnace than the defeeating pan, so that the liquid may be drawn off from the defecating pan into it. The finishing pan 0 is located immediately behind the evaporating pan and alongside of the'defecating pan, and is of about the same area, but of greater depth than the defecating pan. It is placed lower in the furnace than the evaporating pan, so that the liquid may be drawn into it from the evaporating pan. There is ordinarily great danger of burning or scorching during the process of finishing, and hence to obviate this difficulty I make the bottom of this pan still thicker than the bottom of the evaporating pan, and place it at the back end of the furnace, where it does not receive quiteso great a degree of heat. It is made deeper than the evaporating pan, because there is more liability that the sirup or saccharine juices will boil over in this part of the process. The increased thickness of the bottom of this pan, and its greater depth, compensate for and remedy the difiiculties of scorching and boiling over which are experienced in the use of pans of other construction. In order to regulate the amount of heat to be applied to each of these pans, the fire-box isldividedby a partitiomf, which is placed between the defecating and finishing pans, so that the amount of heat applied to each may be regulated by the dampers g and y which may be moved by the handles g", projecting through to the outside of the fire-box. Currents of air are forced through the liquid or saccharinejuices in the evaporating and finishing pans during the process. And for this purpose I arrange an air pipe or pipes, H, in connection with a bellows or blower or air-pump, so thata blast or currents of cold or hot air may be forced through the liquid during the process. These currents of air accomplish four distinct purposes}: first, agitating the liquid; second, accelerating the evaporation by carrying oil the watery vapor or steam with the currents of air; third, producing and maintaining a uniform temperaturent any desired degree in all parts of the liquid; and fourth, evaporating at a very low temperature to prevent the crystalline properties of the juices from being destroyed. One branch of the pipe II is carried through the furnace in order that the air or a portion of it may be heated without any extra expenditure of fire. This pipe may connect with the cold-air pipe, as shown at I, and a current of cold and hot air brought together and thrown into the pan in one stream, or the stop-cocks J J may either of them be closed so as to throw only one blast of either hot or cold air as may be desired, or both may be used together as maybe desired. Any arrangement of pipes or air conductors by which a blast of air can be thrown through the liquid during the process I consider to be within the principle of my invention. These blasts of air are of the greatest importance, and enable me to produce evaporation rapidly at'a very low temperature. I also arrange a distributing plate, K, within the evaporating pan and also in the finishing pan, for distributing the air through all parts of the liquidjuiccs. This plate is supported upon small posts Z, and stands a little below the surface of the liquid in the pan. The air pipe is carried through this plate and discharged under it, so that the air will be spread through the juices and pass up at the outer edges of'the plate. This plate also causes the scum to collect over the central portion thereof, which facilitates and renders more complete the work of skimming. Currents of air are produced and used in the finishing pan by the same means and for thc same purposes as in the evaporating pan. It is not necessary that these pans should be placed inone'furnace inorder to realize the advantages of my improvements. They may be placed and arranged in separate furnaces or fire-box made of stone, brick, or iron, toadvantage and with success. The different thicknesses of the bottoms of the several pans and their different depths, and the currents of air introduced into the juices, will be equally advantageous, whether the pans are set in separate furnaces or whether set in one furnace. The juices require to be treated in the different pans in the diflerent degrees of the process, as described, Whether the pans are arranged in one or several furnaces. When the pans are placed in separate arches or furnaces it is well, in order to secure the best results,'to keep each part of the process distinct from the other, and allow the pieces to settle, and be drawn off in each part or degree, before being transferred and submitted to the next degree.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a series of two or more evaporating pans, arranged and used forevaporating saccharine juices, I claim making the bottoms of such pans of different thicknesses, of metal, for the purposes and substantially as specified.

2. In a series oftWo or more evaporating pans, arranged and used for evaporating saccharine juices, I claim making such pans of different depths, for the purposes and substantially as set forth.

3. An air pipe or pipes or conductors, so connected and arranged with an evaporating pan or pans for treating saccharine juices, that currents of hot or cold air (either or both) may be forced through or into the juicesduring either part of the process, for the purpose and substantially as set forth.-

4. Regulating and controlling the temperature of saccharine juices by means of hot or cold air forced therein in the process of evaporation, substantially as set forth.

5. Placing or arranging an air pipe within the furnace, so that the same fire used for heating the evaporating pans may alsobe used for heating the air.

6. The plate K, placed in the evaporating pan for the purpose of spreading the air, and for drawing the scum to the centre, substantially as described.

T. Dividing the furnace in the rear into two flues, with a damper at each flue, in connectionwith evaporating pans constructed and arranged as herein described. I

GEO. L. SQUIER.

Witnesses:

E. B. Eoncusn, B. H. MunnL n. 

